"Kosher"

(Exodus 23:19b)
It was at the hotel Ramot Gilead that some of us got in trouble for unknowingly breaking the kosher laws. I am pretty sure none of us did anything intentionally…except maybe Karen. Our first night at the hotel we had super on the east side of the dining room away from the scenic windows. I don’t think any of us noticed the absence of dairy products as there was so much food to be had. The next day for breakfast some in our group; the guilty shall remain anonymous; Ben, Ashley, Brennan, Karen, Ray, Rebekah, and Tammy just to name a few; sat in the same area of the dining room we sat the night before. The servers quickly moved us to where the place settings were and we thought that was the only issue: place settings. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our breakfast, which was abundant and included cheese and plenty of milk for our coffee. That evening we arrived back a bit early and were cold and tired and bought coffee with milk down at the bar. The stairs to the dining area were opened and Karen and I took our delicious cups of coffee up to the dining area but were told in no uncertain term we could not bring these in to dine. What the heck?

Apparently there are three principles that guide a rabbi’s thinking and his life: 1) be cautious in judgment, 2) raise up many disciples and 3) Make a fence around the Torah. These three principles are taken very seriously in rabbinic thought. This third principle led rabbi’s to make rules that would prevent the Torah commands from being broken. Sometimes rules were added to rules that were added to rules so that the original Scripture would be observed. Therefore when in Exodus 23:19b it says not to cook a young goat in its mothers’ milk, “making a fence around the Torah”; ultimately became don’t mix meat and dairy, then don’t serve them on the same plate, then don’t use the same cookware for dairy and meat and ultimately, don’t even eat them at the same meal!

When we switched sides the first time we might have used the wrong silverware, when we brought coffee and cream to supper we were in danger of mixing diary and meat and of violating kosher laws. “Gentile kosher law breaker” (GKLB) is not how I wanted to be known at that hotel…but I came pretty close.

In all honestly we talked about that a lot during the trip because it is so foreign to our lifestyle, yet in Jewish life it is practiced and taken so seriously that rabbi’s are known to make surprise visits to hotels and if kosher is being violated, the hotel’s kosher certificate is revoked and essentially the hotel is ruined. Big deal this kosher stuff.

It is very tempting to think of all of this as silly unless one remembers the original principle: build a fence around the Torah. A modern version might be; don’t let the Bible become diluted in meaning. It is the principle for which I left the denomination I grew up in for 41 years. I felt like the authority of Scripture wasn’t being practiced nor enforced in key areas of life and indeed some folks nationally essentially said the Bible was irrelevant to modern life!

So I will still drink coffee with cream and eat meat; as a gentile I am free from those laws, but I will try harder not to sit on the fence and come on down on the side of Scripture in everything I do. May not get there, but I’m going to try…what about you?